


We start with stars in our eyes

by Hawkingjay



Series: Borst Fronds [1]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Friendship, Gen, Kid Fic, for the first few chapters anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-09-27 04:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9965087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkingjay/pseuds/Hawkingjay
Summary: How an unexpected group of kids became friends and the adventures that they have





	1. Alana and Connor

**Author's Note:**

> This AU literally started because Mike Faist didn't close his O's. My friend Christy and I joked about "Cunnur Murphu" until we realized that there's nothing saying that Cunnur isn't alive, and then it morphed into "the Murphus are a happu familu" and Cunnur's "borst fronds". This is basically that but legible, I guess.

Alana Beck liked to think of herself as a defender of what was right. She was, at just seven years old, already helping make the world a better place. So, when she heard about poor Mrs. G, she immediately went to confront the willful ruffian, Connor Murphy, once he came back from suspension. She winced as she tightened her bright pink pigtail holders and marched over to the other end of the playground.

 

“You can’t just throw printers at people, you know,” Alana said with all the strength she could muster. Connor just glared at her.

 

“It was my turn to be line leader,” Connor said. Alana paused. She hadn’t considered this. She was, after all, seven years old, and there was a certain priority placed on line leader politics.

 

“Couldn’t you have said something instead?” She asked. Connor sighed.

 

“I tried to, but she wouldn’t listen!” Connor said. She sat down beside him on the narrow wood planks that lined the fence.

 

“Well, what did you say?”

 

“I said it was my turn.”

 

“And how did you say it?” Alana asked. Connor frowned at her.

 

“You’re not a teacher!” He shouted, and he almost got up to leave.

 

“No, I’m not. I just care about what’s fair.”

 

“What’s fair is me being line leader.”

 

“Okay,” Alana said, “but you’re not going to be line leader any time soon.”

 

“I know that,” Connor huffed, “but I don’t know what to do.”

 

“My dad always tells me to learn from my mistakes, so maybe you shouldn’t throw a printer at the teacher?”

 

“What else was I supposed to do?” Connor asked. His voice was getting thin with frustration.

 

“I don’t know. I know what you can do, though. Next time, I’ll help back you up if you really think it’s your turn to be line leader,” Alana said.

  
“Really?” Connor asked. Alana nodded decisively. The two high fived, and Alana smiled, knowing that she won someone over to the side of good.


	2. Evan

Alana always headed over to Connor when it came time for class projects. Anyone who didn’t know them would say it was pity or fear, but the surprising reality was that the two balanced each other out surprisingly well. Alana’s tendency was to push too hard and Connor’s was to pull back, and somehow they wound up in the middle.

 

“You and your partner have to pick a biological adaptation and explain it to the class. Since we have an uneven number, there will be a group of three,” the teacher said. Connor and Alana gravitated toward each other as usual and started talking before they were interrupted.

 

“Um, can I join your group?” Evan Hansen asked. “Mrs. Torres said there could be a group of three, and… um….”

 

“Sure!” Alana said, once she realized that Evan was never going to admit that no one had picked him as a partner. Connor looked less thrilled with this development.

 

“I was thinking we could talk about trees,” Evan said. 

 

“Trees?” Connor asked. Evan immediately started backtracking.

 

“I shouldn't have said anything. It was stupid…” The apology started flying out of his mouth, as if he’d gotten used to being so full of regret. Alana stopped him.

 

“We can talk about trees if you have a good idea,” Alana said.

 

“I have a few ideas, but I don't know if they’re any good.”

 

“What are they?” Alana asked.

 

“Well, trees make their own food, so we could talk about how the roots absorb nutrients or how the leaves hold tree food,” Evan said. He was still babbling like he was before, but now it was because he was so excited about trees. “Or we could do a thing about how the fruit on trees is actually a way to spread the seeds-”

 

“That's boring,” Connor said.

 

“No, it's not,” Alana said. She gave Connor an uncharacteristic stink eye. Connor fell silent for the rest of the brainstorming session, but he made no effort to hide his bitterness.

 

At recess, Alana headed over to the edge of the playground, as she often did. Connor was sitting there, sullenly tearing up a blade of grass.

 

“Why don't you go play with Evan?” Connor asked.

 

“I want to play with you,” Alana said. She sat down next to him the same way she did since second grade.

 

“Really?” Connor asked.

 

“Yeah,” Alana said. When she’d found the word “acquaintance” in her attempt to read the dictionary, she thought she’d found something to describe all of her future connections. However, the way she and Connor stuck together made her question that. “You’re my friend.”

 

They stayed there and talked for a while, and the awkwardness that had lurked between them faded. By the time the teacher led the class inside, they were back to their usual state.

 

The next day, they had some time to work on their project. Evan was a little skittish when he headed over to where Connor and Alana were sitting. However, Connor had warmed up to Evan.

 

“I shouldn’t have told you your tree idea was boring,” Connor said. “I actually like the one about the fruit.”

 

“Really?” Evan said. He looked way more excited than Connor had expected, and Connor realized that part of the reason he thought Evan might be trying to replace him as Alana’s friend was because Evan didn’t really have many friends of his own.

 

“Yeah. I mean, it involves poop. It’ll easily be one of the coolest projects,” Connor joked. The trio set off to work explaining how animal poop led to new trees. The way they were building on what the others said felt so easy. Connor realized it was the first time in a long time that he actually liked school. The next day, instead of going through his usual rotation of cafeteria tables where he never quite fit in, Evan sat with Connor and Alana. He was surprised at how welcoming they were, and for once, he spent an entire lunch period without a sinking feeling in his stomach that his presence was somehow wrong.

 

Evan joined them the next day, and the day after. Soon he stopped worrying that they wouldn’t want him around. Before they knew it, they reached the end of the year, and they handed off their home phone numbers. They actually managed to stay in touch, and spent so little time at their own houses that when Evan got lost in the woods one day, Heidi first called Connor and Alana’s parents to make sure he wasn’t with them. When Heidi found him an hour later, she felt obligated to call the Murphys and the Becks to let them know he was okay.

  
Evan was okay.


	3. Jared

It wasn’t surprising for kids to have friends in other schools. However, what was surprising for Connor and Alana was finding out that Evan had a friend at another school.

All things considered, the trio could have been doing a lot worse heading into middle school. They had each other, both as a support network and a motivator to actually put in some effort into whatever they were struggling with. If they didn’t know any better, they would have assumed that the formula that had led them this far would continue.

 

However, the assumption was crushed when they saw Evan talking to another boy at student orientation. He had glasses and was wearing a shirt that was disparaging homework, something that immediately concerned Alana. She wasn’t a fan of homework, but you don’t air those sentiments around teachers. However, Connor and Alana still walked over to sit by Evan.

 

“Do you mind?” Connor asked, pointing to the two empty seats.

 

“Oh, go ahead,” Evan said. “This is Jared. He’s a family friend.”

 

Jared nodded at them as they sat down, but he really didn't talk to them. Which was fine, because they had to get through the principal’s introduction speech.

 

The unease lasted weeks past orientation, which was odd, because Alana knew it was irrational to judge Jared just because he didn’t want to hang out with her and Connor. Their friend group was really insular, after all. She had other things to be concerned with, like the fact that Connor was called to the principal’s office during science class.

 

“What happened?” Alana asked, immediately tracking Connor down once school let out for the day.

 

“It was stupid,” Connor said, “I shouldn't have had to go to the principal’s office to begin with.”

 

“That still doesn't tell me what happened,” Alana pointed out.

 

“You know Evan’s family friend, Jared?” Connor asked.

 

“Yeah, Jared Kleinman?” Alana said.

 

“He said he was only hanging out with Evan so his mom would give him allowance,” Connor said.

 

“Oh my god!” Alana said.

 

“I know,” Connor said, “so I told him to fuck himself because there are people who actually want to hang out with Evan, which is more than I can say about him.”

 

“That wasn’t the best way to handle it, especially since you got caught swearing” Alana said, “but I get where you're coming from.”

 

“I’m sure I can work out the syntax in detention,” Connor said, “that is, if I don’t punch him first.”

 

“Why would you punch him?” Alana asked.

 

“There’s only so long you can spend listening to him before you snap,” Connor said, “and I have detention with him for a week.”

 

“Why does he have detention?” Alana asked.

 

“Have you heard him talk?”

 

“Fair point."

* * *

 

 

Anyone else would think Alana was just offering to help Mrs. Torres was just her being a teacher’s pet. However, Connor knew Alana better than that. It wasn’t an accident that she was in the room while Connor and Jared were serving their detention. When she left the room, Alana went into action.

 

“We’re willing to lie if you need us to,” Alana said. She wasn’t even facing Jared, but she knew he heard her.

 

“What?” Jared said.

 

“Connor said you said you only talk to Evan so your parents will pay your allowance. If your parents ask us, we’ll tell them you hang out with him,” Alana said.

 

“Why would you do that?” Jared asked.

 

“Well, we like hanging out with Evan,” Alana said, “we don’t like hanging out with people who talk smack about our friends, and Evan drags you along because you’re family friends. So if you’re only here because of your allowance, we’ll let you go.” Jared was clearly mulling the idea.

 

“I’ll get back to you,” Jared said.

* * *

 

The next day, Jared surprised everyone by sitting with them at lunch. He was pretending to be nonchalant about it, but he flopped into the seat and sighed very loudly.

 

“Hey, Jared,” Evan said. He was unaware of the drama between his friends, but he was still confused by the fact that Jared was sitting with them.

 

“Hey, Evan,” Jared said. He turned toward Connor and Alana, “Evan’s friends.”

 

“Oh, I thought I introduced you to Connor and Alana.”

“They’ve introduced themselves to me,” Jared said, giving them a pointed look.

 

“What, um, what are you doing here?” Evan asked. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but you just, um, normally don’t sit here. Or, with us.”

  
“I realized what I needed to be honest with myself,” Jared said, “and you’re pretty good friends.”


End file.
